


Bootstrap Paradox

by summoninglupine



Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Zi-O
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Temporary Character Death, Gen, M/M, Resurrection, Role Reversal - other character dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23733982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summoninglupine/pseuds/summoninglupine
Summary: "the billiard ball moves in a path towards a time machine, and the future self of the billiard ball emerges from the time machine before its past self enters it."
Relationships: Tokiwa Sougo/Woz
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11
Collections: Deadly Intent Exchange





	Bootstrap Paradox

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jen425](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/gifts).



A path untaken, a future that would never come to pass. He stood at the window, his expression serious, his arms loose at his side, his attention elsewhere, one hand holding onto the oddly comforting shape of the Blade RideWatch. How much could happen in a single week; how old you could grow from a single experience. In the days that had passed, Tokiwa Sougo has asked himself what would have happened if Woz had not died, if his Woz had not died, if Geiz had refused to take up the crown that the other Woz— _White Woz_ —had presented before him. 

His expression darkened and he felt something that he did not wish to admit, something that made him feel like that old man on his golden throne he had but glimpsed for a moment—he felt cheated, he felt betrayed by Geiz’s actions, by White Woz’s seduction, and he felt wrathful, he felt vengeful, older than his youthful features suggested. When Geiz and Tsukuyomi had tumbled into his life, they had told him that they were here to kill him, to prevent him from becoming a tyrant. When Woz had arrived in his life, it had been with exaltations and praise, a jubilant declaration of Sougo’s imminent ascension to the throne. 

Over the months they had shared together, Woz had shared scant few details of his life in the future. And yet what he _had_ revealed had fascinated Sougo, had arrested his adolescent attention in a way that very few things prior to his arrival had. Woz, several years older than him, had arrived with stories of Tokiwa Sougo’s future self, stories of a tyrannical dictator in obsidian armour and shimmering gold adornments who would tolerate no dissension; stories of an old man who had taken the boy Woz in and made him both his courtier and his concubine. 

When first Suogo had made love to Woz, he had found it unusual how willing the older man was to make himself subservient to him, and, when all was said and done, though the other had not said as such, Sougo felt that he was disappointed with the younger man’s lack of forwardness and inexperience. Now he was dead and the future in which he would meet Woz again would never come to pass; all that remained was Geiz Revive and White Woz.

His grasp tightened about the RideWatch in his hand, and slowly, he lifted it up, the details of the silver face and the red eyes glowering back at him. When Geiz and Tsukuyomi had first arrived, when they had first brought tidings of his fearful transformation, Sougo had naturally brought up the issue of free will; yes, he wanted to be king, no, he did want to be a tyrant, therefore, knowing what he now knew about the future surely meant that this was enough to change the course of things? He posed the question with eloquence and grace, winning both travellers over to his side, even when he had eagerly welcomed Woz, their enemy, into his company.

He never bothered to tell them the increasing concern he held that time-travel was self-consistent. Every time they used the time mazines, they ensured that the events that they were destined to encounter at the point from which they had departed would definitely happen, ensuring a casual loop was maintained; a billiard ball fired into a wormhole that impacts against its past self will always ensure that the trajectory it is sent on will push it towards a wormhole in order to force it back into the past to recreate the action that previously effected it.

He had read that somewhere, he was sure, therefore, if Woz was dead—

“Rejoice!” the voice came from behind, sending a chill down his spine. “The one to inherit all Rider powers, the time king who will rule over the past and the future!”

He turned to face the older man, leaning casually against the doorframe, book in hand, a wry smile upon his lips, and he felt a confused mix of relief and desire. He straightened up, trying to present himself as regal, his knuckles white around the RideWatch, his body trembling with the urgency to ensure that this was real, to prove himself the master of events; the hand that moved the billiard ball, not the ball itself.

“Woz,” he said as he advanced, struggling to keep the emotion from his voice, “prostrate yourself.”

With a smile, his friend, his servant, lowered himself to his knees, his eyes never once leaving Sougo’s own.

The boy king, future monarch, inheritor of all the strength of all that had passed before him, advanced, and, gently but firmly, placed his hands upon Woz’s shoulders.


End file.
